Property of a Noblewoman

Faded photographs of a glamorous couple in postwar Europe. Old letters hinting of tragic loss. And a breathtaking array of magnificent jewelry, spectacular stones in exquisite settings. These are the contents of a safe-deposit box long abandoned in a New York City bank. If no heir can be identified, the jewelry will be auctioned. But who was the woman who left such a fortune and no will?

Rushing Waters

Ellen Wharton has flown into New York from London, regardless of the weather and her husband's worry. The successful interior designer is intent on seeing her lively architect mother and has an important personal appointment to keep. But despite Ellen's urging, when the storm hits, seventy-four-year-old Grace Madison refuses to leave her Tribeca apartment in the midst of the evacuation zone, and they must eventually wade through chest-high water to the police boats outside.

The Apartment

Four young women's lives intersect in the apartment they've shared in Hell's Kitchen: Claire, a shoe designer; Abby, an aspiring novelist; Morgan, a successful financial consultant; and Sasha, a resident in obstetrics. As different as they are from one another, the women had become a family by choice. But while their lives had proceeded smoothly in the years they'd lived together, new relationships, job opportunities, and surprising circumstances will test the strength of their bond in and outside the loft that had become their home.

Magic

The White Dinner is a love poem to friendship, joy, elegance, and the monuments of Paris. And each year it is an unforgettable summer night, especially for Jean-Philippe Dumas, a longtime participant, and the three couples he's carefully selected to attend this exclusive and cherished event. Interweaving the stories of seven individuals, lives will be forever changed on the eve of one such White Dinner; a night that will lead to new friendships, new love, and of course, magical possibilities.

Blue: A Novel

Ginny Carter was once a rising star in TV news, married to a top anchorman, with a three-year-old son and a full and happy life in Beverly Hills - until her whole world dissolved in a single instant on the freeway two days before Christmas. In the aftermath, she pieces her life back together and tries to find meaning in her existence as a human rights worker in the worst areas around the globe.

The Award

Gaëlle de Barbet is 16 years old in 1940 when the German army occupies France and frightening changes begin. She is shocked and powerless when French gendarmes take away her closest friend, Rebekah Feldmann, and her family, and send them to a detention camp for deportation to an unknown, ominous fate.

Undercover

For DEA Special Agent Marshall Everett, life as he knows it is over once a gunshot wound renders his arm useless. Barred forever from the undercover work he loves, he has nothing - no close friends, no family, no hometown or base, and no desire to settle for life behind a desk. He's called to action in the most unlikely of places when he stumbles upon a beautiful girl burying an old steel box in a Parisian park.

Country

Stephanie Adams is a devoted stay-at-home mother, married to a successful lawyer in northern California, in a dead marriage she stayed in for years for the sake of her children. Then, on a ski trip in Squaw Valley, her fifty-two-year-old husband dies suddenly and all bets are off.

The House

Perched on a hill overlooking San Francisco, the house was magnificent, built in 1923 by a wealthy man for the woman he adored. For her and for this house, he would spare no expense and overlook no detail, from the endless marble floors to the glittering chandeliers. Almost a century later, with the once-grand house now in disrepair, a young woman walks through its empty rooms. Sarah Anderson, a perfectly sensible estate lawyer, is about to do something utterly out of character.

Hotel Vendome

The hotel was old, run-down. But to Swiss-born Hugues Martin, a young, ambitious hotelier trained in the most illustrious European traditions, it is a rough diamond, tucked away on a quiet, perfectly situated Manhattan street. After begging and borrowing every penny he can scrape together, Hugues purchases the building - and transforms it into one of the world's finest luxury hotels. Under Hugues's tireless, exacting supervision, the Hotel Vendôme is soon renowned for its elegance, its efficiency, its unparalleled service and discretion - the ideal New York refuge for the rich and famous....

Precious Gifts: A Novel

Handsome, widowed, sophisticated, utterly charming, Paul Parker won the heart of a wealthy young Frenchwoman - the daughter of an American financier, the granddaughter of a major French art dealer - as his second wife. In two marriages, he fathered a challenging son and three very different daughters. But as irresponsible as he was irresistible, he ultimately shrugged off the demands of marriage and parenting to pursue life as an international bon vivant.

Power Play: A Novel

In Northern California two successful CEOs are both indispensable to their growing companies' futures. Both are brilliant at the power game. But the difference between them is huge. One is a man, the other a woman. In this riveting novel, Danielle Steel explores what that means as she takes listeners into the rarefied world of those at the pinnacle of international business and reveals the irrevocable choices they make, what drives them, and how others perceive them. The heady drug of power impacts everything they do.

Legacy

At the age of 38, Brigitte Nicholson has a job she likes, a man she loves, and a book on the women's suffrage movement that she will finish - someday. Someday is Brigitte's watchword. Someday she and Ted, a rising star in the field of archaeology, will clarify their relationship. Someday she will have children. Someday she will stop playing it so safe. Then, on a snowy day in Boston, Brigitte's life is jolted.

Matters of the Heart

Hope Dunne has carved out a name for herself as a top photographer, known the joys of marriage and motherhood and the heartbreak of loss. In her chic SoHo loft, Hope is content with her life, finding serenity and beauty through the lens of her camera. She isn't looking for a man or excitement. But these things find her when she accepts a last-minute assignment to fly to London at Christmas and photograph one of the world's most celebrated writers - an Irish-American author known for novels of thrilling literary darkness.

Betrayal: A Novel

At 39, Tallie Jones is a Hollywood legend. Her work as a film director is her passion and the center of her life; one after another, her award-winning productions achieve the rare combination of critical and commercial success. With no interest in the perks of her profession or the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles, Tallie maintains close and loving relationships with her college-age daughter and her aging father, and has a happy collaboration with Hunter Lloyd. her respected producing partner....

First Sight: A Novel

First Sight is a tale of daring to take risks, and losing control just enough to have a life, when the opportunity presents itself. When two very different worlds and strong-willed people collide, everything changes in an instant, as they confront the age-old question of whether to lay oneself bare and risk intimacy - or not. Are they brave enough to face what comes next? And will they do it together or apart?

The Sins of the Mother: A Novel

Every woman makes choices. And no one has made more difficult choices than Olivia Grayson. The enormously successful businesswoman missed out on much of her children's lives while she built her legendary home-furnishings empire. In Danielle Steel's character-rich novel, Olivia faces the past, tries to balance the present and make amends where due, while still running her vastly successful business. As a way of making up to them for time lost, Olivia spends months each year planning a holiday that everyone in her family will enjoy.

The Kiss

In a novel that is as compelling as it is compassionate, Danielle Steel weaves a story of courage in the face of unimaginable loss. With the grace of a master storyteller, she explores the strength it takes to conquer our greatest fears, showing us how the toughest choices can yield the most unexpected rewards...and how the longest, most winding journeys can begin with a single kiss.

One Day at a Time

With wit and intelligence, Danielle Steel explores love in all its guises, taking us into the lives of three unusual but wonderfully real couples. One Day at a Time is at once moving, thought provoking, and utterly impossible to put down.

Until the End of Time: A Novel

Bill is a dedicated young lawyer working at his family's prestigious New York firm, who leaves everything he trained for to follow his dream and become a minister in rural Wyoming. Jenny, his wife, is a stylist whose heart and soul are invested in fashion. She leaves the milieu and life she loves to join him. The certainty they share is that their destinies are linked forever.

A Perfect Life

The epitome of intelligence, high-powered energy, and grace, Blaise McCarthy is an icon in the world of television news, asking the tough questions and taking on the emotionally charged issues of world affairs and politics with courage and insight. A single mother, she manages her well-ordered career meticulously, always prepared on the air or interviewing world-renowned figures and heads of state. To her audience, Blaise seems to have it all. But privately, and off the set, there is another untold story .

Happy Birthday

Valerie Wyatt is the queen of gracious living and the arbiter of taste with a successful TV show. Since her long-ago divorce, she's worked hard to reach the pinnacle of her profession and to create a camera-ready life in her Fifth Avenue penthouse. So why is she so depressed? All the hours with her personal trainer, the careful work of New York's best hairdressers, cosmetic surgeons, and her own God-given bone structure and great looks can't fudge the truth or her lies about it: Valerie is turning sixty.

Prodigal Son: A Novel

In a matter of days, Peter McDowell loses everything he has worked so hard for - his wealth, his property, his livelihood as a star investment banker. And then it gets worse. The stock market crash not only plunges Peter into joblessness, it causes a rift in his marriage that he cannot repair. Stripped of everything, he has only one place to retreat to: a lakeside cottage he inherited from his parents, who left most of their modest estate to Peter's twin. With no other choice, the prodigal son goes home.

Publisher's Summary

Eleven years have passed since Alexa Hamilton left the South behind, fleeing the pain of her ex-husband's betrayal and the cruelty of his prominent Charleston family. Now an assistant D.A. in Manhattan, Alexa has made a name for herself as a top prosecutor while juggling her role as devoted single mom to a teenage daughter.

But everything changes when Alexa is handed her latest case: the trial of accused serial killer Luke Quentin. Alexa prepares for a high-stakes trial...until threatening letters are addressed to her beautiful 17-year-old daughter, Savannah. Alexa is certain that Quentin is behind the letters - and that they are too dangerous to ignore. Suddenly she must make the toughest choice of all - and send her daughter back to the very place she swore she would never return to: the place where her marriage ended in heartbreak...her ex-husband's world of Southern tradition, memories of betrayal, and the antebellum charm of Charleston.

Now, while Alexa's trial builds to a climax in New York, her daughter is settling into southern life, discovering a part of her family history and a father she barely knows. As secrets are exposed and old wounds are healed, Alexa and Savannah, after a season in different worlds, will come together again - strengthened by the challenges they have faced, and with Savannah now at home in the Southern world her mother fled.

A novel that will catch you off guard at every turn, Southern Lights is Danielle Steel at her electrifying best.

There were times where I thought the writing was just going on because it had to and it felt a bit drawn out.

A good story and even though I just had to finish it, it definitely could have been shorter.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Heather

Yonkers, NY, USA

04/11/09

Overall

"Worst Book Ever"

I have never listened to something so boring. There was absolutely nothing to this book. I love Danielle Steel, but this was awful.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Cindy

Montgomery, AL, United States

19/12/09

Overall

"Thought this might be different"

Was so bored with this book I almost didn't listen to the whole thing, but I kept thinking that surely there had to be a plot, or at least a lesson in the book, besides stereotyping Southerners. Danielle Steele needs to visit the South before writing about it. Bless her heart! :) I used to love reading her books, but stopped after they got SO depressing and boring. Guess nothing has changed.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Maria

Rockville, MD, United States

30/08/12

Overall

Performance

Story

"Empty"

Would you ever listen to anything by Danielle Steel again?

no

Any additional comments?

The book is empty and primitive to the extreme. On top of that it is full of snobbery.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Susan

Rock Hill, SC, United States

27/10/09

Overall

"It's my own fault..."

I should have known. It was a Danielle Steel book. I shouldn't have said, "Well, maybe this one will be different." This is absolutely the silliest, lightest, most one-sided book I have listened to. I feel so sorry for Nick Podehl who had to narrate this, especially the southern voices.

The main character is perfect. Her teenage daughter is perfect. They never fight. They are best friends. The daughter must go to Charleston to live with her dad and EVIL STEPMOTHER - who is completely evil. I wonder, has Danielle Steele ever been to South Carolina? We don't live on plantations with black servants. We don't hate yankees. We are not "steeped" in the confederacy. We don't sit around counting how many generals we had from our family in the Civil War and we will certainly apply to a Northern college if that's where we want to go. We also don't exclude people because they are not from the south. And the character's names!! SAVANNAH BEAUMONT??? Fiance named SCARLETT?? I don't think she could have written more stereotyped characters and beliefs.

The only other thing to say is that if you didn't get the gist of the plot after the first couple of hours - NOT TO WORRY! Danielle Steele will explain it over and over and over ad nauseum. I have never read anything where the same thing is said again and again, constantly.

I guess if you are a fan and you like her style of writing, you will probably like this. But if you're hoping for something different, I don't think this is it. Bye Y'all!

15 of 18 people found this review helpful

beachbum

USA

18/03/12

Overall

Performance

Story

"I wish I could give it LESS than 1 star...."

I like books that have something to do with the south, but this was the most insulting I've ever "read". I think DS needs to visit SC before she *tries* to write about it - "bless her heart" (and that's meant with the DS meaning, not the true southern meaning!). I'm insulted and disgusted at the same time!

This was a pitiful attempt at writing imho. If you didn't hear it the first time, you would have heard it after it was repeat for the 10th time, or the 15th....

Please take my suggestion and do not waste your money on this book. It's BORING, totally inaccurate and very poorly written. I don't see how this book ever made it through the editors to the publisher. I've read many "free" books from indie authors that topped this by far! Danielle Steel needs to do a lot more research before trying to write about the south - a place where she apparently knows nothing - "bless her heart".

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Cheryl

Oskaloosa, IA, United States

25/07/11

Overall

"Not what I expect from DS"

DS is one of my favorite writers, but this one was not worth the $$ I spent. Some of the characters were not necessary for the story, it seemed like they didn't belong to the story. This may have been realeased in audio format in 2009, when was it written? Very dissappointed in this one.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Kindle Customer

23/11/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Nice read"

Have not read Danielle Steele in years. At one point she was my favorite author. Still a bit predictable but a nice, pass the time story!

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

D. Barbara S.

29/09/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Southern charm but racial undertones"

The story is good however there are several...many distasteful references to race and prejudices common to the old south i.e. "Women of the confederacy" and "all the homes in South Carolina had confederate flags flying" and so on. I didn't like it bc of this and thought it was insensitive for D.S. to write this in the story. For that I'm giving it a 1-star rating.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Amazon Customer

02/09/16

Overall

"Southern Lights"

A touching story of the old south ideals. A family who sticks to their southern ways and have no use for Notherners.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Report Inappropriate Content

If you find this review inappropriate and think it should be removed from our site, let us know. This report will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.